How
can you have a nice day? Can you
control the weather? Can you
be a weather forecaster for your life? What
does God say? How accurate is your
weather forecasting? What kind of
weather will we have this week? What
type of day will you have today or tomorrow?
Can we secure the blessings of God by doing the right religious things?
Jimmy Goodfellow
Methodist
Pastor Charles Merrill Smith has written a book, How to Become a Bishop
Without Being Religious.
Success
in the ministry, says Smith in the book comes from meticulous conformity to
the right professional stance. A clergyman must never even think, for example,
of driving a red Corvette convertible. For beginning preachers, a black,
two-door Falcon is ideal; a dark-green Chevy II with automatic transmission is
“safe” for the pastor of a small congregation.
“The
most important one piece of equipment the aspiring clergyman will acquire,”
says Smith, “is a wife. She must not be beautiful, stylish or sexy.”
The
rising clergyman can win a reputation for wisdom in his sermons by using such
phrases as “Christ-centered” and “faith of our fathers.” Another
favorite phrase is “holiness unto the Lord.” No one has a clue to what
this means, but it is one of the most soul-satisfying phrases in the lexicon.
Nothing
makes the congregation feel so good as singing hymns like “In the Garden,”
which mentions the first personal pronoun 27 times:
And
He walks with me,
And
He talks with me,
And
He tells me I am His own.
Most
important of all is to cultivate the right people. The rule of thumb, Smith
suggests, is to assign each individual a numerical value—a member of the old
aristocracy ten points, any millionaire eight, a corporation lawyer six, an
obscure artist two, a clerk one, a factory worker minus one, a Japanese
(except in California) minus three—then allot each a proportionate amount of
attention.
Add
to this a “respectful, alert, eager to learn and anxious to serve”
demeanor toward ecclesiastical superiors, and eventually someone will tell the
powers that be, “Jim Goodfellow is the man you are looking for.”[1]
Isaiah 58:
6
“Is not
this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and
untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7
Is it not to
share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from
your own flesh and blood? 8
Then your
light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa
will go before you, and the glory of the Lord
will be your rear guard. 9
Then you will
call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the
yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10
and if you
spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the
oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will
become like the noonday. 11
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a
well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12
Your people
will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you
will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. 13
“If you
keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my
holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s
holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not
doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14
then you will
find your joy in the Lord, and I
will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the
inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord
has spoken. [2]
How Can We Have a
Nice Day?
1.
What is a Nice Day? Vs.
10-11 describe the perfect day. Your
light shines in the dark. Your
night will become like the noonday. The
Lord will guide you always. He
will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well, watered garden and like a spring whose waters
never fail. That is a nice day.
The sun isn’t too hot and wind doesn’t blow too hard.
It is perfect. How can you
get one of those nice days?
a.
Things you control in your life.
Who is your choice of God in your life?
What is the way you treat God? Your
attitude toward God is displayed by your treatment of others and your
treatment of Him. What about the
Lord’s Day? Do we trust him to
give one day of our week to Him? What
is your attitude in life? What is
your response to life? What is
your choice of life? Which way you
go and live your life? The kind of
worship and fasting that you give to the Lord.
What is the way you treat other people in your life?
b.
Things God controls in your life. He
will answer your call. He will
say: Here I am. He will make your
light to rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.
Have a nice day. The Lord
will guide you always. He will
satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land.
He will strengthen your frame. You
will be like a well watered garden and like a spring whose waters never fail.
What does God want?
Does it matter to you what he wants?
What kind of worship does he want?
Contemporary, modern, traditional, or is it something else?
For those who were fasting and worshiping on the sabbath he said very
specifically what he wanted. He
wants to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, and to
set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Share your food with the hungry
and provide the poor wanderer with shelter.
To give clothes to those who are naked.
Especially those who are your own flesh and blood.
c.
Things that can happen when you get together with the Lord.
Have a nice day of
the Lord. God wants to get
together with us to become his people who live with Him.
When Jesus fed the masses of people with 5 loaves of bread and two
fish, he blessed what they had and gave it to them to give to the people.
He chose to use them to do his work.
He chose 12 disciples to spread the good news of the gospel to the
world. He chooses us today to have
a nice day in the Lord and spread the news.
When we get together with the Lord here is what he says can happen.
Have a nice day!
God can make you have a nice day! He
can a make a nice day for you. He
can make you to be healed. He is
the great physician. Your
righteousness will go in front of you which is the righteousness of the Lord
and the Lord will guard your back.
- You
will rebuild the ancient ruins.
- You
will raise up the age old foundations.
- You
will be called a repairer of broken walls and restorer of streets with
dwellings.
- You
will find your joy in the Lord.
- I
will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the
inheritance of your father Jacob.
- The
mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
This scripture is not a guarantee of success.
But it could happen with the Lord.
What will happen without the Lord?
Certain death and destruction awaits those who trust in themselves, but
with the Lord all things are possible. Job
suffered greatly but was blessed by the Lord in the end.
Jesus was crucified but he was raised from the dead and now sits on the
right hand of the Father.